I only acquired my curls as an adult, as a child my hair was dead straight, so my knowledge is pretty limited.
My eldest daughter (9 1/2) has almost waist length, extremely thick hair. It used to be totally straight too. About a year ago I noticed waves/ ripples appearing but put them down to plaits. However a year later, no plaits for ages and the waves are still there (actually noticed a little spiral at the front today.)
At the moment she is still using shampoo and conditioner, and brushing in the morning. Her hair gets quite greasy at the roots and her hair has to be tied back for school.
It isn't frizzy at the moment but am just wondering if I should be doing anything differently?

3a,fine.
using : a varied assortment till I work out what the heck is going on
scrunch or plop with old t shirt
Garnier endurance hold gel

if she is forming curls she definitely needs to stop brushing her hair when it is dry. ideally, she should comb her hair in the shower when it has conditioner since any combing is negated once the conditioner is rinsed out. but if she combs her hair after the conditioner is gone, it might inhibit her hair from curling the way it wants to. i would say get some cone free shampoo and conditioner (suave naturals is cone free and dirt cheap) and some cone free gel (i like alagio curl crazy. l.a. looks and istyle are ok, too). she might need a clarufying shampoo to deal with the grease...i'm actually not too sure about that one.